Blog Buzz: Will Murkowski endorse Miller?

As Joe Miller's official victory over Sen. Lisa Murkowski sets in, both liberal and conservative bloggers consider the implications of yet another established Republican losing to an ideologically stringent conservative.

Some conservative blogs noted the need for Murkowski to support Miller in order to maintain party unity in the general election. And while liberal blogs have in the past celebrated Republican establishment upsets as increasing Democrats' chances in the fall, they made no such predictions about Alaska's results.

Hot Air's Allahpundit linked back to an older post where he emphasized the importance of Murkowski embracing Miller's win in order to maintain party unity.

The more corrosive things get between him and Murky, the better the Democrats’ chances at an upset are. Increase the peace.

Red State's Erick Erickson also noted that Murkowski withheld any endorsement of Miller, much like some other establishment-backed candidates who lost.

This is getting to be a trend among beaten Republicans that they don’t endorse their more conservative challengers. See e.g. Bill McCollum.

Miller's win also spurred a conversation betweenNRO's Jim Geraghty and blogger Will Cainabout "whether you would rather have 60 Lindsey Grahams or 40 Jim DeMints" in the Senate: more moderate, compromise-ready Republicans or a minority of stricter ideologues.

Geraghty's conclusion:

It’s odd; the people who talk the most about how they want to stand for principle, and how they oppose conceding any ideologicalpositions find themselves conceding many winnable House and Senate seats... Show me a principled, dedicated and noble loser and you know what you have? A loser.

When the Senate reconvenes in September, John McCain's GOP colleagues should thank him for picking Sarah Palin as his V.P. He created a monster.

Miller is a hard-core right-wing teabagger. He's way, way, way out there. Miller thinks Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional.

Unlike other states in which ultra-conservative candidates won, like Nevada, Kentucky and Colorado, however, Sudbay did not seem to think that Miller's primary win increased Democrats' chances in the fall, writing little about Miller's general election opponent:

The Democratic nominee is Scott MacAdams, an 'Alaska Populist.' His campaign website is here.

So we've got classy Joe Miller to join Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, and Ken Buck in crazyville and a bitter rift among Republicans.

And even though MyDD's Charles Lemos thought Miller was "perhaps the most extreme candidate running this cycle," he also doesn't hold out too much hope for McAdams.

There had been talk of replacing McAdams with a higher profile Democratic candidate but Senator Mark Begich and the Alaska Democratic Party have reaffirmed their support. The key now is raising at least a million dollars to run an effective campaign. McAdams had raised less than $10,000 as of his last FEC filing.